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anyway ...I'm such a fan of Raimi and my favorite "xena" is there !!! I think I'm in love with lucy lawless and I'd love if she would have the possibility to grab her sword&sandals once again!!!!! but she plays Lucretia , a noble Roman .... very luxurious and *****y

the show reminds me of 300 that meets the academy winner Gladiator with Russel Crowe ....

"The most powerful man in the universe...""Where hope seems lost...""I was summoned on the future...""A hero shall emerge to protect Eternia..."
Whats next ?

To be fair most historical dramas are short on accuracy. And I think a part of that is no one knows how things were except us history nuts. But then again I had a student who thought Joan of Arc fought during the Civil War, so I don't have much faith in my average American viewer.

To be fair most historical dramas are short on accuracy. And I think a part of that is no one knows how things were except us history nuts. But then again I had a student who thought Joan of Arc fought during the Civil War, so I don't have much faith in my average American viewer.

Oh they are, but from talking to a history professor friend of mine, she'd rank the 3 shows in terms of accuracy this way:

ROME
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Tudors
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Spartacus

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But for me the most important thing is the quality of the show. ROME was epic. Unprecedented sets and visuals, outstanding acting and sharp intelligent scripts with far-reaching stories. It was a deep and realistic look at Rome without any 21st century moralizing over it. The Tudors I never got into, it felt like a cheap imitation of ROME to me - and I don't really care about that era. Spartacus is going to be loads of fun, but its definitely very budgety - its trying to combine ROME with 300, but it feels like they are just opying the surface.

Spartacus makes the #1 mistake of subpar historical pieces like Alexander or Troy by attempting to be Shakespeare and having everyone in bronze age Greece/Italy have British accents and speak in POETRY. From the Roman senator to the barbarian slave, everyone waxes poetic and speaks in a roundabout verbose way, except barbarians use tons of profanity to let you know they're rough and tumble.

Just finished watching the 1st episode on Netflix. I am a little disappointed, maybe I expected too much

There is so much slow motion, I honestly have the impression that if those sequences were real time the episode would last 5 minutes. I hope they tone that down a lot. By the time you get to the 17th blood-gushing animation you just wanna shout "Oh, come on, already". There is actually one instance which is cool - at the end, when the gladiator who just lost his legs gets killed, and the whole screen fills with blood. There they make it totally unreal, and it gets a little arty. But that is an exception.

As for sex, apparently the producers think that "sex" means corny stock-phrase "romantic" dialogue followed by a few sequences of Playboy-style soft nudity. Yeah, I bet that's how they did it back then!

Originally Posted by BCI Guy

...but otherwise its fun as a trashy version of HBO's ROME.

Yeah, that is the perfect description of this show. I was kinda expecting ROME, that's why I was disappointed. It's nowhere near it.

I don't know, I might continue watching if it is easily accessible online, and if I manage to switch to finding quality in its trashiness.

Originally Posted by Divia

...HBO's Rome..which I only saw a few episodes of.

Trust me, you want to see entire show. It's one of the best shows ever. It's a little expensive (costs more than most shows in iTunes) but it's worth it.

Honestly, ROME wasn't 100% accurate either, but it was a lot more accurate than most TV shows. And, I think they tried hard to depict everyday Roman life accurately - human relations, everyday business, the way politics was conducted - which is what really counts for a period drama.

I thought it was ok. But The over use of the 300 Blood effects and the use of modern language kinds of ruins it for me. I doubt they used the C and the F words then!

"I mark the hours every one, Nor have I yet outrun the Sun. My use & value unto you, are gauged by what you have to do."Enscribed onto Hermione Granger's Time Turner from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

I agree. I'm really enjoying the show for what it is and I instantly and "only" thought 300/Gladiator. It also has the perfect amount of cheese and naughty for my liking... and I'm loving the blood too.

I really liked Rome but don't see the connection that some of you do.

"A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing."

The political intrigue is much more like Rome then either Gladiator or 300, especially when you watch Episode 2 (a much better episode then the premiere)

After watching the two episodes the show resembles 300 for direction and outrageous action sequences, ROME-lite for way the story is crafted, and Gladiator for how Spartacus is developed

In other words like someone took the movie Gladiator, decided to serialize it because they watched ROME and figured since they could not have the explicit or frequenct sex HBO goes for to compensate with over the top violence.

But it works I think, and I hope it encourages Starz to make more shows since cable networks like USA, Sci Fi, BBC, and Starz have been producing much better programming than the big "free" networks the last few years.

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The political intrigue is much more like Rome then either Gladiator or 300, especially when you watch Episode 2 (a much better episode then the premiere)

After watching the two episodes the show resembles 300 for direction and outrageous action sequences, ROME-lite for way the story is crafted, and Gladiator for how Spartacus is developed

In other words like someone took the movie Gladiator, decided to serialize it because they watched ROME and figured since they could not have the explicit or frequenct sex HBO goes for to compensate with over the top violence.

Very solid summation, I think.

But it works I think, and I hope it encourages Starz to make more shows since cable networks like USA, Sci Fi, BBC, and Starz have been producing much better programming than the big "free" networks the last few years.

Agreed. I also think shows benefit from short seasons. 13 episodes forces much tighter plotting and less filler.

Starz is on a "quiet" roll. Party Down is one of the best new comedies that gets very little pub.

It's like some network exec went to a board meeting with this premise: "Let's make a sword and sandal epic! It'll be a mixture of Gladiator, only with the sex from ROME and the stylized violence from 300! We'll make millions!"

I think Spartacus is cool, but it's influences are so blatant. I have yet to see the second episode, though.

I didn't catch most of episode 3 (just the end actually) but what was the point of him losing and asking for mercy? It was like a political statement (by him) as Batiatus seemed almost pleased. Was it part of a master plan "Spartacus" cooked up...

"A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing."